Homecoming: Chancellor reflects on changed social, educational and economic landscape

As chancellor of a major American research university, Mark Nordenberg has experienced the changing academic landscape firsthand. Chancellor Nordenberg sat down with The Pitt News to reflect on his tenure as chancellor, comment on challenges the University has faced and share advice for his successor.

The Pitt News: When did you first decide to retire, and what motivated you to do so?

Chancellor Nordenberg: I actually had been thinking about when to leave the chancellor’s position for a number of years. While the decision clearly will have an impact on my personal life, it was less a personal decision than a decision driven by a desire to trigger a transition at what I thought was a good time at Pitt. It is a large undertaking because the position is demanding, the competition from other universities will be fairly intense and there is a participatory quality to such [chancellor] searches in the academic world, meaning [universities] have to organize a big committee and then that committee has to organize to move forward. 

TPN: You sat on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Postsecondary Education, but Pitt still saw cuts to its funding. How did you respond to these cuts as chancellor, given your connection to the governor?

CN: The first proposed budget cuts were shocking. They were so deep. They came without warning. They seemed not to take account of all of the many ways in which this University and others were making important contributions both to the Commonwealth as it exists today, but to the country of the future. The first reaction, then, really was one of almost amazement. Then that shock transformed into determination. We worked as hard as we possibly could to lessen the proposed cuts, and we were quite successful in doing that. The next year, a proposal for more cuts came. Again we mobilized and worked as hard as we could to resist any further cuts to the University’s budget. We were successful in the sense that flat funding emerged, but that still does take us back nearly 20 years in terms of the levels of support. So it was a political victory that still left us with serious challenges in terms of maintaining quality within the University.

TPN: How important is it, then, to keep strong ties with the governor?

CN: I think it’s very important to have a mutually respected relationship with the governor, as well as with leaders of the legislature. We are a state-related University, and we have relied on support of the commonwealth, both to keep in-state tuition rates comparatively lower and to fuel some of the other work that we do. And to have that snatched away or drastically reduced really does impede our ability to keep making those contributions. A person in my position does need to avoid being entangled in partisan politics, and does need to make a persuasive case to members of both parties.

TPN: A large social issue that passed through the University during your time was the push for domestic partnership benefits for University employees. Do you think the University moved too slowly on resolving this issue?

CN: To answer your question in a very direct way, we were the first public university in Pennsylvania to provide domestic partnership benefits. We worked very hard to get other universities to join us in offering those benefits and were unable to make the case. So, we really did lead the way after moving through what was a difficult time. It’s sometimes hard to believe how quickly social attitudes have changed with respect to issues like domestic partner benefits. We were able to advance an important cause not only for the University of Pittsburgh, but statewide. Once we announced our intention, and ran whatever risks it presented, others followed suit.

TPN: What other social issues would you say have defined your time as chancellor?

CN: I would say that the last dozen years were defined in a very particular way by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. I remember being in my work office that morning and having a staff member who had seen some notice of the first plane going into the World Trade Center coming in and saying, “You have to come in and look at the television.” None of us could believe that this had happened in New York, then in Virginia and Pennsylvania. We didn’t know what this meant for our campus or for Pittsburgh, given the paths that were being flown by some of the planes that were involved. We had students who had relatives that worked in lower Manhattan, in the Pentagon or near the Pentagon who couldn’t make telephone contact because of some of the circumstances. I remember coming in here and watching the television and then spending the rest of the day talking to our security people, on whom I depended, or being out on campus talking to students not knowing myself quite what to say but feeling as if my presence in their midst would be positive.

TPN: As chancellor, how do you prepare yourself for unforeseen issues that arise for the University?

CN: The keys, I think, are to be ready to receive new information, to move forward with a commitment to a welcoming set of human values, to make certain that you have members of your team who are insightful advisers on issues of whichever type and then to move forward in the most thoughtful, responsible way that you can.

TPN: How has the educational landscape changed during your time in the higher-education field?

CN: There was a commitment to higher education that I think would be exhilarating if we saw anything close to it today. That commitment was driven both by a belief that we owe something to the next generation and by a belief that high-quality higher education is a key ingredient to building collective community and social strength. I think that all of that has proven to be true. Yet today, we see a pattern of retreat from public support for public higher education. Part of it is a product of the challenging economic times, but part of it — if you listen to some people — is a false belief that everything they achieved in their lives they did on their own. They believe that everyone else, whether you are 18 or 80, whether you are well-to-do or poor, ought to just take care of themselves, and I don’t believe that is the way the world works.

TPN: What would you identify as your biggest accomplishment as chancellor?

CN: If there is one thing that will probably make me feel best when I leave this position, it is the sense that people really are proud of the University. Whether they are students or faculty or alumni, they care about the future of the University and they want to stay engaged with Pitt. You can feel that when you walk across the campus and talk to people. You can feel that when you run into alumni on the streets of Pittsburgh or in more distant airports. It is a wonderful thing. This is a human institution and the way the human beings that are connected to the institution feel about it really is important.

TPN: What advice would you provide for your successor? 

CN: I would say that it is a wonderful community that has made very substantial progress. I would say that there is no reason for our momentum to slow, and that if you believe in higher education, enjoy working hard and like working with good people, this will be a great place and a great job.